The following pertains to the solar power generation arts and related arts. In a known concentrated solar power (CSP) system design, a field of heliostats concentrates solar power onto a (typically tower-mounted) solar receiver. A flowing solids medium, such as silica sand or calcined flint clay with particle size on the order of a few hundred microns, flows through the solar receiver. This flowing solids medium absorbs energy from the concentrated light and is thus heated. The hot flowing solids medium may be used for various purposes, for example being fed into a fluidized-bed boiler to generate steam for driving an electrical generator turbine.
Some such solar concentrators are described, by way of non-limiting illustrative example, in Ma, U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0257056 A1 published Oct. 3, 2013 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and in Ma et al., U.S. Pub. No. 2013/0255667 A1 published Oct. 3, 2013 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, and in Maryamchik et al., “Concentrated Solar Power Solids-Based System”, U.S. Ser. No. 14/250,160 filed Apr. 10, 2014 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.